New Delhi: Hundreds of people of the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh took a stride towards self-reliance by associating with self-employment activities of Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC). At a grand event organized in Jhansi on Sunday, Minister of State for MSME Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma distributed electric pottery wheels, bee boxes and Agarbatti making machines to rural artisans of Jhansi district and adjoining areas of the Bundelkhand region. An awareness program on the Central government’s flagship Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Program (PMEGP) was also inaugurated on the occasion.
The implements distributed by KVIC included 200 bee boxes, 100 electric pottery wheels and 50 Agarbatti making machines. This will create a cumulative employment for over 600 local persons. KVIC has also provided training to these beneficiaries for carrying out activities at their doorsteps. Verma lauded the KVIC’s initiatives in the Bundelkhand region and said the machines given to these rural artisans would provide them with livelihood at their doors.
He said that there is a huge scope of employment creation in Uttar Pradesh, particularly the Bundelkhand region. The Minister added that the government is committed to expedite job creation by implementing flagship programs like PMEGP, Honey Mission and Kumhar Sashaktikaran Yojana in the region.
Chairman KVIC Vinai Saxena said that these schemes of KVIC are aimed at empowering the poorest of the poor people. He said that Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh is a focus area of KVIC where a number of schemes have been implemented to create self-employment for the farmers, unemployed youths and women.
During the last three years, KVIC has empowered over 300 potters’ families in Bundelkhand region, creating livelihood for nearly 1200 persons of the community. It has also given a big thrust to the PMEGP scheme by setting up nearly 11,000 new manufacturing units in the region and thereby, creating 8800 direct employment. To support these projects, KVIC also disbursed a subsidy amount of Rs 75 crore. Also, 16 Khadi institutions are currently working in the Bundelkhand region, which are engaged in spinning and weaving activities by mostly women artisans. /BI/
